Basic voice mail answering systems have become popular business tools for routing customers. Voice mail systems are basically a database access system that permits a caller to access the database information over the telephone call by converting stored audible voice signals for playback upon demand. Common to all voice mail systems is the ability to record a personal message should the person to whom the call is routed be unavailable. Thus, an obvious benefit provided by voice mail systems is the ability to remove an employee from mundane telephone answering duties allowing the employee to be used for more productive matters.
For instance, larger companies find the use of an in-house operator a valuable service for answering and directing incoming telephone calls. This is particularly true if the operator is also capable of answering various informational requests posed by a customer. However, since directing of telephone calls is typically repetitive and has peak demands, multiple employees could be necessary to properly address the calling.
Mid-sized companies can ill afford to pay for in-house operators. Answering of the telephone is typically assigned to a receptionist whose primary duty is welcoming visitors to the company. In these instances the receptionist becomes a valuable asset to the company if the receptionist is also able to respond to customer inquiries and send out information if requested.
Small companies may not be able to justify a receptionist, delegating the duties of answering the phone to a secretary or even to the owner of the company. With a limited staff, the probability of the phone being unanswered or having a delay in answering is high. Typically, when no employee is available to answer the phone call, the call may go unanswered or the call is recorded on a conventional telephone recorder. The use of a conventional recorder has the obvious disadvantage of not providing the customer with answers to various questions that may have been presented during the initial phone conversation.
A popular alternative to in-house telephone answering is the use of answering services. Answering services are independent companies that provide telephone answering services for a fixed fee. The company that retains the telephone answering service simply calls the answering service during the day to obtain messages. Alternatively, the telephone answering service may page a company employee by use of a beeper to signal that calls have been received.
A problem with telephone answering services is that the person answering the telephone may not be able to communicate information about the company so requested by the caller. Private personalized messages are not possible since the operator must write down the message conveyed. In certain situations, the telephone caller may not realize the answering service is not part of the company called and the inability of the answering service to answer otherwise simple questions may leave the caller with a bad impression of the company. The incoming callers may be acutely aware that their call is being answered remotely and believe that the business they are working with is so small that they may not be able to accommodate their needs. This is especially prevalent when an answering service employs the services of a person who does not answer the phone in a convincing manner or simply states that the calls are being forwarded to the answering service.
For these reasons, the use of in-house voice mail systems have become very popular with small, mid-size, as well as large businesses. Not only is the voice mail efficient in directing the incoming telephone call, but also for its ability to direct caller inquires should information be requested. Large companies are able to use the operators for more productive tasks, mid-size companies can use the receptionist for their intended purpose, and small companies do not appear understaffed. A primary problem with voice mail systems is their expense and installing a professional voice mail system could range upwards of $200,000, in 1994 dollars, for equipment only, not including maintenance.
As an alternative to in-house voice mail systems, the use of remotely answered telephones using professional voice mail systems provide businesses with a cost effective alternative to the professional voice mail system. By use of conventional telephone technology, a business owner can forward his/her telephone calls to a remotely located answering service who will respond to the incoming caller as if the answering service was located on the business premises. Voice mail systems are well known in the art wherein depression of TOUCH TONE keys on a remote telephone key pad prompts an incoming caller through various functionalities. The voice mail system may be programmed to automatically connect with a particular department or individual or simply used to deliver messages stored in what is known as an electronic mailbox. The incoming caller may record a personal message to any individual having a voice mail recording location on the system. However, the telephone line of the company will be busy while the call is in progress causing subsequent callers to receive a busy signal. If the voice mail system has multiple options, the call could take minutes to transpire. For this reason, multiple lines could be required during peak calling periods. This added expense detracts from the benefits gained by having voice mail system.
Thus, what is needed is a remote automated voice mail messaging and management service that utilizes two wire DID with hook flash transfer technology so as to provide multiple telephone line similarity from as few lines as possible.